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Welcome to Divisional Weekend, where the NFL’s best teams enter the playoff fray.

The second round of the NFL post-season features plenty of juicy storylines, starting with a matchup of two gunslinging quarterbacks and wrapping up with the defending champs against the NFC’s top seed.

In his first full season as a starter, Mahomes became just the second player in NFL history to throw for 50 TD passes and more than 5,000 yards – joining Peyton Manning as the only other quarterback to achieve the feat.

Luck, meanwhile, is having one of the best comeback seasons in NFL history. He’s reinvented his game under head coach Frank Reich after missing the entirety of the 2017 season, throwing 39 TD passes – two more than Manning did in his comeback-player-of-the-year season in 2012.

Given the fire power of these two quarterbacks, plus K.C.’s 31st-ranked secondary, we could be in for a barn burner at Arrowhead.

Indianapolis Colts
The story after the Colts win over the Texans last weekend was the sublime play of Indy’s offensive line, a story that, if you’ve paid any attention to Frank Reich’s team this season, is one you’ve heard plenty of times before.

When Andrew Luck has the complement of a healthy offensive line this season, defences have been hard-pressed to even lay a finger on No. 12. They’ve given up exactly zero sacks when the line is intact.

The Colts have had all five of their offensive line starters available in six games this season (Weeks 6-11 and the Wild Card game)

Just like last weekend – and all season long – the play of Indy’s offensive line will go a long way in determining the winner.

Los Angeles Rams
While much of the attention will be on Sean McVay and the Rams’ high-octane offence against Dallas’s stout defence, the outcome of Saturday night’s game could be decided by L.A.’s ferocious interior pass rush led by Aaron Donald.

The favourite for defensive player of the year, Donald faces off against a Cowboys offensive line that has not fared well this season up the middle. The interior of the Dallas o-line gave up 21 sacks on the season, which tied them for 29th in the league.

The Cowboys, who are 7-1 this season when Zeke rushes for more than 100 yards, will need their star back to be feasting with two spoons on Saturday, as Dallas has had its fair share of struggles on the road.

The Cowboys averaged 7.5 fewer points per game on the road this season. The Rams averaged 8.9 more points per game at home.

New England Patriots
Tom Brady continues to defy Father Time as he begins his quest to lead the Patriots to an eighth-straight AFC championship game and a fourth Super Bowl in the last five years.

Brady’s playoff résumé speaks for itself, but it doesn’t make his post-season stats any less remarkable. Take this one, for example: Brady has 20 more playoff wins than any of the remaining quarterbacks suiting up this weekend.

Philadelphia Eagles
The Eagles’ resurgence under the guidance of Nick Foles is one of the stories of the post-season so far. (Déjà vu, anyone?)

Foles’s playoff success puts him among some interesting company (we can’t exactly call them elite), and a win in New Orleans will put the reigning Super Bowl MVP in a tie for best post-season winning percentage off all-time.

New Orleans Saints
This last stat demonstrates just how dangerous the Saints offence has been this season. Drew Brees and company are almost automatic in the red zone, converting opportunities inside the 20-yard line 91.3 per cent of the time.

Stat of the Day: The #Saints offense was the best in the NFC at scoring inside the 20 with a 91.3 percent success rate with 48 touchdowns and 15 field goals in 69 possessions. pic.twitter.com/dgmEhe2bsr

That means one of the most interesting matchups in the final game of the weekend will be the Saints’ red-zone offence versus an Eagles defence that ranks top of the league when backed up in its own territory.

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